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An Overview of IEEE 802.15.6 Standard

Kyung Sup Kwak, Sana Ullah, Niamat Ullah

arXiv:1102.4106v1cs.NI

TL;DR

WBAN needs standardized low-power communication for diverse medical and non-medical applications. This paper reviews IEEE 802.15.6 PHY, MAC, bandwidth-efficiency, and security specifications, reporting higher efficiency with larger payloads under stated assumptions. It concludes that the overview helps readers quickly understand the standard’s key concepts.

  • Problem

    WBAN requires a standard supporting medical and consumer-electronics applications while addressing PHY and MAC requirements.

  • Method

    The paper briefly overviews IEEE 802.15.6 PHY and MAC specifications, bandwidth efficiency, and security modes.

  • Results

    Bandwidth efficiency increases with payload size, reaching 83.6% for 187.5 Kbps and 69.4% for 971 Kbps under the stated assumptions.

  • Takeaways & Limitations

    The overview can help application protocol designers assess payload-size effects and quickly understand IEEE 802.15.6 key concepts.

Abstract

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Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) has emerged as a key technology to provide real-time health monitoring of a patient and diagnose many life threatening diseases. WBAN operates in close vicinity to, on, or inside a human body and supports a variety of medical and non-medical applications. IEEE 802 has established a Task Group called IEEE 802.15.6 for the standardization of WBAN. The purpose of the group is to establish a communication standard optimized for low-power in-body/on-body nodes to serve a variety of medical and non-medical applications. This paper explains the most important features of the new IEEE 802.15.6 standard. The standard defines a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer supporting several Physical (PHY) layers. We briefly overview the PHY and MAC layers specifications together with the bandwidth efficiency of IEEE 802.15.6 standard. We also discuss the security paradigm of the standard.

I. INTRODUCTION

WBAN supports long-term remote health monitoring and medical and consumer-electronics applications, motivating IEEE 802.15.6 standardization. The standard addresses PHY, MAC, frequency-band, and security requirements, although this paper is based on Draft.1.

  • WBAN enables remote monitoring of a patient’s state over long periods without restricting normal activities.
  • IEEE 802.15.6 was established to standardize WBAN communication for medical and consumer-electronics applications.
  • Available WBAN frequencies are regulated by communication authorities, making PHY frequency-band selection a central standardization issue.
  • MICS and WMTS bands do not support high-data-rate applications, while the worldwide ISM band faces substantial interference from other wireless devices.
  • The paper overviews PHY and MAC specifications, bandwidth efficiency, and security, and is based on Draft.1 of IEEE 802.15.6.

II. TARGET APPLICATIONS

IEEE 802.15.6 targets medical and non-medical WBAN applications. Medical uses emphasize continuous patient data collection and assistance for disabilities, while non-medical uses include consumer and social applications.

  • Medical applications continuously collect patient vital information and forward it to remote monitoring stations for analysis.
  • The collected data can support prevention of myocardial infarction and treatment of gastrointestinal, cancer, asthma, and neurological disorders.
  • WBAN can assist people with disabilities through applications such as implanted retina prosthesis chips.
  • Non-medical applications include monitoring forgotten things, data-file transfer, gaming, and social networking.

A. PHY Layer Specification

IEEE 802.15.6 supports Narrowband, Ultra wideband, and Human Body Communications PHYs, with packet structures and modulation choices tailored to different operating requirements.

  • The standard defines three PHYs: Narrowband, Ultra wideband, and Human Body Communications.
  • Narrowband PHY (NB): NB PPDU frames contain a PLCP preamble, PLCP header, and PSDU, supporting synchronization, packet decoding, and MAC-payload transmission.
  • Narrowband PHY (NB): The NB PHY uses DBPSK, DQPSK, and D8PSK modulation, except the 420-450 MHz band, which uses GMSK.

2) Ultra Wideband PHY (UWB):

The UWB PHY divides operation into low- and high-band channels and defines a PPDU structure that supports synchronization and payload decoding across several data rates.

  • UWB operates in low and high frequency bands, with each channel providing 499.2 MHz bandwidth.
  • The low band contains channels 1-3, while the high band contains channels 4-11; channels 2 and 7 are mandatory.
  • A typical UWB device must support at least one mandatory channel: channel 2 at 3993.6 MHz or channel 7 at 7987.2 MHz.
  • The UWB PPDU contains an SHR, PHR, and PSDU; the PHR conveys PSDU data rate, payload length, and scrambler seed for decoding.
  • UWB data rates range from 0.5 Mbps to 10 Mbps, with 0.4882 Mbps designated as mandatory.

3) Human Body Communications PHY (HBC):

The HBC PHY operates in specified frequency bands and uses a structured packet format to support synchronization and frame detection.

  • HBC PHY operates at 16 MHz and 27 MHz with 4 MHz bandwidth.
  • Its EFC PPDU consists of a preamble, SFD, PHY header, and PSDU.
  • The preamble is transmitted four times for packet synchronization, while the SFD is transmitted once.
  • The receiver detects the preamble and then the SFD to identify packet and frame starts.

2) Non-beacon mode with superframe boundaries:

In this non-beacon mode, superframe operation uses a single access-phase type across the entire superframe duration.

  • The entire superframe duration is covered by either Type I or Type II access, but not both.
  • Type I and Type II access phases are mutually exclusive in this mode.
  • The mode does not combine Type I and Type II phases within one superframe.

B. MAC Layer Specification

The MAC layer organizes channel access into beacon-bounded superframes with multiple allocation phases and contention mechanisms, while efficiency depends on payload size and data rate.

  • Superframe structure: Each superframe is bounded by a beacon period whose boundaries and allocation slots are selected by the hub.
  • Superframe structure: The superframe includes EAP1, RAP1, Type I/II, EAP2, RAP2, Type I/II, and CAP phases.
  • Access priorities: EAP1 and EAP2 serve highest-priority traffic, including emergency-event reporting.
  • Access mechanisms: Access mechanisms comprise random access, unscheduled contention-free access, and scheduled access with 1-periodic or m-periodic allocations.
  • CSMA/CA: The CSMA/CA procedure uses SIFS and backoff handling, with the contention window unchanged after an odd number of failures.
  • Bandwidth efficiency: 83.6% efficiency occurs at 187.5 Kbps and 69.4% at 971 Kbps, with efficiency increasing as payload size grows.

C. Security Paradigm

IEEE 802.15.6 defines a security paradigm with three security levels, each associated with distinct security properties, protection levels, and frame formats.

  • The standard defines three security levels.
  • Each security level has different security properties.
  • Each security level has different protection levels and frame formats.

1) Level 0 - unsecured communication:

Level 0 transmits data in unsecured frames, providing no authentication, integrity, confidentiality, privacy, or replay protection.

  • 1) Level 0 - unsecured communication:: Level 0 transmits data in unsecured frames without authentication or integrity protection.
  • 1) Level 0 - unsecured communication:: It provides no confidentiality or privacy protection.
  • 1) Level 0 - unsecured communication:: It provides no replay defense.

3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:

The highest security level combines secured authentication with encryption and addresses protections omitted by lower levels.

  • 3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:: The highest security level transmits data in secured authentication and encryption frames.
  • 3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:: The highest level provides solutions to problems not covered by levels 0 and 1.
  • 3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:: During association, the required security level is selected when a node joins the network.
  • 3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:: Unicast communication activates a pre-shared Master Key or a newly established key, followed by a session-specific Pairwise Temporal Key.
  • 3) Level 3 - authentication and encryption:: Multicast communication uses a Group Temporal Key shared with the corresponding multicast group.
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